Smith confirms maiden 125cc pole despite late crash

The dominant rider at every practice session in Losail this week, Bradley Smith continued his sparkling form to take his first World Championship pole in the 125cc class, courtesy of a 2'05.242 hot lap.

The dominant rider at every practice session in Losail this week, Bradley Smith continued his sparkling form to take his first World Championship pole in the 125cc class, courtesy of a 2'05.242 hot lap.

The Briton, making his debut with Polaris World Aprilia this weekend after two seasons with a factory Honda bike, suffered a crash on his cool-down lap that dampened the exuberance of the occasion but should not affect his chances of battling for victory in tomorrow's first ever World Championship night race.
Ironically, Smith needn't have pushed on his final laps, as no other rider was able to better his provisional pole time of 2'02.286 from Friday evening.
Closest to matching the 17 year-old was reigning category World Champion Gabor Talmacsi, who had previously experienced difficulties at the Losail International Circuit. The Hungarian, riding for the Bancaja Aspar team, was under a tenth of a second slower than the young pretender to his throne.
Frenchman Mike di Meglio confirmed his place on the front row, which was completed by Blusens Aprilia's British rookie Scott Redding in a late surge that relegated his equally impressive countryman Danny Webb to the second line.
Webb will be accompanied by Raffaele de Rosa –the highest placing KTM competitor, Jack & Jones WRB rider Nico Terol and injured Bancaja Aspar expected title contender Sergio Gadea.
Aside from the crash suffered by Smith, there were also falls for Simone Corsi and Lorenzo Zannetti, impeding the former's attempts to improve upon his Friday time.
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